I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of buildings and structures and, more particularly, to a folding modular structure.
II. Description of the Related Art
Modular structures have a variety of used in many industries. For example, remote sensing stations for meteorological towers or cellular towers require structures to house equipment and allow operators shelter. The military also uses structures for communications stations and the like. Another use of modular structures is for detention centers. Often times, jails and detention centers are created by stacking several individual prefabricated cells side by side and on top of one another to form a detention center. As stated these modular cells are prefabricated and often include all four walls and a floor. The cells can further include necessary reinforcements and hardware necessary for a detention cell. These cells are prefabricated at a suitable facility and then transported, typically by flatbed truck to their final destinations, which could include ships for overseas transport.
FIG. 1A illustrates a prior art flat bed transport truck 10 having a flat bed trailer 15 transporting prior art modular structures 20. The structures 20 are shown face to face or rear to rear displaying the side walls on the sides of the trailer 15. Typically, only three or four of the structures, which can weigh anywhere up to 30,000 pounds, can be placed on the trailer 15. It is typically time consuming and very expensive to be able to only ship three of four of the cells at a time.